Sedona Red Recap: Zack Greinke strikes out 11 in D-backs’ win over Padres

PHOENIX — The sequel never lives up to the original. Think “Caddyshack II.”

Zack Greinke and the Arizona Diamondbacks prefer this follow-up, however.

Greinke pitched six innings and then waited out some anxious moments, as did the 14,758 in attendance at Chase Field on Monday.

In the end, the D-backs held off the San Diego Padres, 7-6, to win the opener of the four-game series.

Five days earlier Greinke had lost a 1-0 decision to the Padres, when the D-backs had zero success against right-hander Jhoulys Chacin.

Different story, different outcome this time.

The D-backs hammered Chacin (2-3), who had held them to three hits in a complete-game effort on April 19, for seven runs on eight hits. Four of those runs came in the fifth inning, all with two out and all off the bat of Chris Owings, who hit his first career grand slam.

David Peralta also went deep. He homered in the first inning.

Chris Herrmann and Yasmany Tomas had RBI as well.

Grienke (2-2) pitched five shutout innings before allowing a run in the sixth. He scattered six hits with no walks and a season-high 11 strikeouts.

During one stretch, Greinke retired eight straight batters.

He exited with a 6-1 lead.

Fernando Rodney closed it out, earning his sixth save in six chances.

The D-backs, winners of three of four, improved to 9-2 at home, matching the franchise record through 11 games.

THE GOOD

Thirteen games: that’s how long it had been since Peralta homered. He greeted Chacin’s first offering and deposited the 91-mph fastball just over the left-field fence to give the D-backs an early 1-0 lead two batters into the first inning. For Peralta, it was his third home run of the season and first since April 8 against Cleveland.

Taking a called third strike on an 89-mph fastball in the fourth inning, Ryan Schimpf became Greinke’s seventh strikeout victim, setting a new season-high. Twice in his previous four starts Greinke had struck out six, including his last outing against the Padres. Greinke K’d a pair in each of the first, second and fourth innings.

A day off Sunday did little to cool Tomas at the plate. His one-out double in the fourth inning netted him his 35th RBI in his last 28 games at Chase Field. He turned on a 2-1 slider, lining the ball into the left-field corner to score Jake Lamb. It was Tomas’ sixth double of the season, tying him with A.J. Pollock for team-high honors.

Making just his third career start hitting third in the order and the first since Sept. 11, 2014 against the Giants, Owings’ grand slam was the first of his career. He clubbed a 92-mph fastball onto the concourse just to the left of the batter’s eye in straightaway center field. The fifth-inning home run was his second this season.

THE BAD

Through three innings, Chacin had thrown 37 pitches, 25 for strikes, including a first-pitch strike to 10-of-11 batters faced. In other words, he was efficient. He also fed off the D-backs’ aggressiveness at the plate. Twice Chacin recorded first-pitch outs, and twice he reached a three-ball count. In those three frames, Chacin had allowed one run on one hit with one walk and three strikeouts.

Three of the Padres first five hits belonged to Yangervis Solarte, who entered the game 3-for-21 over his career against Greinke. He singled in each of the first, third and sixth innings; the latter two on 0-1 offerings. In the sixth, Solarte scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly to make the score 6-1, D-backs. The three hits by Solarte, by the way, tied a season-high. He went 3-for-4.

Making his D-backs season debut, Silvino Bracho faced five batters in the seventh inning. All five reached base. Four scored. Bracho lasted only a third of an inning after being recalled from Triple-A Reno earlier in the day. He gave up two hits, including a three-run home run to Wil Myers, and walked one. Bracho was charged with three of the four runs so his ERA is an unsightly 81.00.

STAT OF THE GAME, part I

1.93: Greinke owns a lifetime 1.93 ERA (26 ER in 121 IP) against the Padres. It’s the fourth-best of any active pitcher versus any single opponent, tied with Cole Hamels, who has a 1.93 ERA against the Reds.

STAT OF THE GAME, part II

41: With four more two-out RBI, the D-backs have 41 this season, the highest total in the National League.

HE SAID IT

“It probably won’t happen too many more times, so just enjoy it while you can,” Owings said, referring to hitting third in the lineup.

NOTED

– Greinke threw a first-pitch strike to 16-of-24 batters faced; plus, he reached a three-ball count four times.

– Greinke recorded his 25th career 10 or more strikeout game. It’s the second since he joined the D-backs.

– Peralta went 3-for-4 and is hitting .548 (17-for-31) with four doubles and three RBI over last seven games.

– Pollock went 0-for-4 with a walk and has reached base now in 10 consecutive games against the Padres.

– Tomas was picked off second base following his double by Chacin for the second out of the fourth inning.

– Paul Goldschmidt was given the day off, his first this season. Herrmann (1-for-3) got the start at first base.

– With a first-pitch temperature of 88 degrees, the game was played with the roof open, the panels closed.

– Season ticket holders participated in a “Take the Field” with D-backs players prior to the National Anthem.

– Phoenix Suns center Alan Williams was among those in attendance. He was sitting up the third base line.

UP NEXT

A pair of left-handers, Patrick Corbin and Clayton Richard, take the mound in Game 2 of the four-game series on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 40 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

The two matched up five days earlier in San Diego with Richard besting Corbin and the D-backs, 4-1.

Richard (2-2) allowed the one run on nine hits in 6.2 innings. He struck out eight. Corbin (1-3), meanwhile, went six innings, surrendering three runs on five hits, including a home run. He also struck out eight.

Corbin, who has lost each of his past two outings, is 3-4 with a 3.35 ERA in seven career starts against the Padres.

Richard owns nine wins over the D-backs, the most of any opponent he’s faced in nine big-league seasons.

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